Square Enix plans to ‘slim down’ lineup of releases in future

Despite being a massive AAA publisher, Square Enix is known to produce a wide range of games covering many different budgets. It seems as though this current output is set to change, with the publisher looking to “ensure higher quality from each title by slimming down our lineup.”

As part of Square Enix’s most recent fiscal earnings report, the publisher took part in an investor Q&A in which the company’s CEO Takashi Kiryu was asked “Has the way that your development function has spread to cover so many bases made controlling your development efforts more difficult?” In response, Kiryu stated:

“It has less to do with our development function and more to do with the numerous entries in our lineup. I want to structure our development function so that we are able to ensure higher quality from each title by slimming down our lineup.”

Following up on this, one respondent asked “Why have you been unable to slim down your lineup until now?” to which Kiryu claimed that:

“As our customers' needs and the types of devices available have diversified, we have tried to produce hits by developing a wide variety of titles rather than by focusing only on certain ones. I believe that this has resulted in the splintering of our resource pool.”

He continued, “Meanwhile, there have been clear winners and losers among the major titles released recently in the gaming market, and it has become possible for even indies titles to make their presence felt. The market is increasingly polarized between blockbuster and indies titles, but I feel that we have developed many titles that fell somewhere in the middle. I want to make clearer distinctions going forward.”

As noted by Kiryu, Square Enix is one of the few publishers who do have a surprising range of titles released every year. Though many fell under the radar, 2023 saw the publisher launch nearly a dozen titles, including the likes of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai – Infinity Strash; Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo and Theatrhythm Final Bar Line.

While it makes sense that Square Enix would want to streamline their portfolio, hopefully the publisher still allows for smaller and more experimental games to thrive.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of Square Enix’s output? Do they need to change their release strategy? What is your favourite smaller Square Enix title released in the past few years? Let us know down below.

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